Aspects of the disclosure relate to computing and communication technologies. In particular, aspects of the disclosure relate to wireless networks, such as systems, methods, apparatuses, and computer-readable media for determining the location of access points (APs) in a wireless network.
Traditional techniques enable determination of locations of access points in a wireless network using a-priori knowledge about the APs, “war-driving” or “war-walking,” or systematic surveys. A-prior knowledge from venue owners may be very diffused, inaccurate, and prone to operator mistakes. “War-driving” or “war-walking,” which refers to the active act of driving or walking, respectively, around an area to find network APs, and is an example of crowd-sourcing. These methods of identifying APs typically use received signal strength indication (RSSI) measurements from outside a building. RSSI measurements may be used to create “heat maps” indicating signal strength in locations near an AP. Such systems and methods have drawbacks, including poor ability to measure indoor locations, large variations between devices and users, and poor accuracy. Systematic surveys may also have very high costs associated with collecting information and errors introduced due to inaccuracies in ground truth references.
The current systems describe alternative and improved systems for identifying APs.